Spring Farm Public School

Wednesday 27th November	Barn Dance Fundraiser (within school time) Location: school hall
Monday 2nd December	P&C Meeting 7pm Location: Admin Building, Staff room
Tuesday 3rd December	Year 6 Orientation Day at Local High Schools (contact local high school/s for specific information)
Wednesday 4th December	Blue Group Assembly - Class Leaders 2.10pm gates open for parents Location: school hall
Thursday 5th December	Silver Group Assembly - Class Leaders 2.10pm gates open for parents Location: school hall
Thursday 5th December	Infants and Primary Dance Companies - Bunnings Narellan Christmas Performances  Arrival Time: 6pm Performance Time: anytime from 6:15pm Location: Narellan Bunnings
Friday 6th December	Kindergarten Graduation 9.30am Location: school hall
Monday 9th December	Parent & Community Volunteer Afternoon Tea (RSVP Required) 1.30pm - 2.30pm Location: school library
Thursday 12th December	2019 Presentation Day  9.30am - 11am Location: school hall
Tuesday 17th December	SFPS Christmas Concert 5pm - 8.30pm Location: school green zone
Wednesday 18th December	Year 6 Farewell 6pm Location: Harrington Grove Country Club
Wednesday 18th December	Last Day for Students for 2019
Wednesday 29th January 2020	Years 1 - 6 Students Return

Presentation Day

On Thursday 12 December 2019 from 9:15am in the school hall, Spring Farm Public School will hold an end of year presentation ceremony to recognise outstanding effort and performances by students in Key Learning Areas. Invitations to parents and carers will be sent out via Care Monkey which is linked to personal emails

Please update your email address and care monkey details.

 

Kindergarten Graduation

Parents and friends are invited to join us in celebrating the end of Kindergarten.

When: 6 December 9:30am

Where: School hall

What: Graduation ceremony & Picnic 

Each student will receive a graduation certificate and perform. Following the graduation, there will be a picnic. We encourage you to bring a picnic blanket or chair and some snacks.

Bunnings Dance

Bunnings Narellan Christmas Performances

Infants and Primary Dance Companies, Infants Choir and the Senior Vocal Ensemble have the opportunity to perform at Narellan Bunnings Christmas event again this year. It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase 4 of our extra-curricular groups to the community.

Date: Thursday 5th Dec 2019

Location: Narellan Bunnings

Arrival Time: 6pm

Performance Time: anytime from 6:15pm

Costume for Dancers: Christmas attire (practical for dancing) Costume for Singers: Black pants/shorts/skirts etc. with Christmas shirts    

Transition programs and 2020 Classes 

The school is currently implementing a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) group transition program which isproviding opportunities for students to work with different teachers and students from other classes. These groups are supporting students for 2020 transitions.  We have been working on 2020 classes and trying to work on the best solution for next year as the school will be establishing another Multi-Categorical class and receiving four new Demountable Classrooms. We have a growing community and for this reason we need to consider establishing classes that will allow for student growth whilst working within our staffing and classroom entitlements set by the Department of Education.  Structuring classes for the New Year is a lengthy, well-planned and considered process that revolves around the needs of our students and how we as a school can best cater for them. As a school, we consider many aspects of student, cohort and school needs in order to structure our classes to maximise student learning. We have a requirement to meet many different Departmental Policies, as well as maintaining our school vision and culture.

 

Class placement is a complex processes especially in a growing community, with class sizes set by the Department of Education and school structures must take these policies into consideration when forming classes. If student numbers increase we will need to form another class or classes and therefore student movement may happen during the New Year. Therefore, the school is putting a lot of thought and forward planning to limit too many class changes throughout the year. Within Term 4 of this year, the school has enrolled a number of students and we have been able to manage and welcome our new families and students. At this point, teachers have not been allocated any classes as we are waiting for new staff to join us. Spring Farm Public School teachers are K to 6 trained and will be placed in different class years and stages each year. This is beneficial for their professional development and for the school community to view all of our teachers as having the skills to teach in all years.    

 

Spring Farm Public School will continue to have stage classes or cross stage classes as they have a number of benefits to students:  teachers are able to focus on individual student’s academic and social needs. They can plan fluid academic movement for all students in their class. Stage classes provide opportunities for students to broaden their friendship bases and be clear role models to others in their class. These type of classes will assist with the new enrolments throughout the year without disrupting existing classes. More information can be accessed on this link:

 

http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/25cb2fe5-c5f4-4ce8-920c-6b4b108bb30a/parents-guide-2015.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=

NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy 

Spring Farm Public School canteen is meeting the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy. 

The Menu Check Service has assessed the school’s canteens menu application against the food and drink criteria of the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy. The school’s canteen is meeting the requirements of the Strategy. 

By having a healthy canteen you are supporting the health and wellbeing of your students. To acknowledge this achievement the school has been awarded the Great Choice Certificate and badge (see attached) that can be used to inform the broader school community of your commitment to a healthy school canteen.  The certificate is valid for two years from the date of issue.

Spring Farm Public will be added to the NSW Healthy School Canteens list that lists all NSW schools that are meeting the Strategy. We congratulate the canteen manager and other members of the school community who have played a role in this achievement.

School Reminders and updates

Thank you to our school captains and vice captains for attending the Remembrance Day ceremony at Macarthur Park. A number of parents, aunties, uncles, friends and grandparents attended our GrandFriends' Day afternoon tea and picnic. This coincided with the Book Fair, which raised $2000 worth of books to be donated to the school library. There are a lot of books that require covering and if there are any parent helpers who can assist in covering books please contact the school and Mrs Evans, who is currently working in the library, will organise books to be covered. Thank you for all of those who have provided feedback and as school we will continue to review all of our planning and implementation of community events for the future

  

Successful morning and dismissal routines 

A reminder that school gates and teacher supervision commences at 8:30am. This is important for the safety of students, as there is no supervision prior to 8:30am.

 

I also ask for all parents and carers to enter the school grounds from 2:45pm onwards if they are picking up their child or children at 2:55pm. Due to Work Health and Safety requirements, entering the school grounds earlier than 2:45pm, you will be required to sign in at the school office. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. 

 

Poor air quality and inside break times

Working with the Department of Education Work Health (WHS) and safety unit and the school’s WHS committee, the school has had to review and trial different models for break times for staff and students especially to address the consistent poor air quality alerts. With the ongoing poor air quality, students have had to have a number of days of inside play to assist all students and staff with the poor air quality and smoke, especially in the later parts of the day when the smog seems to be greater. The school has increased the times of the Brain Breaks (each class goes out with a buddy class for structured play for about 20 minutes between 10am to 11:30am). This has had enormous benefits as students and staff are having a break between their academic learning and are participating in more play based learning. Similarly, the school has been trialing a more supervised eating time for both lunch and recess breaks. As we are a large and growing school, we have had to consider the safety of all students and staff especially when dismissing them for play time. Therefore, a number of stages and individual classes have a specific meeting points to eat or to line up at various parts of the school. This has reduce a number of accidental student injuries when students were dismissed for play, teachers are able to monitor smaller groups of students eating and finishing their food and placing rubbish in the bins, which has greatly reduced the litter on the school grounds. As the school continues to grow or weather events need to be addressed, we will continue to review and revise break times for students and staff.

 

Signing your children out of school 

When you need to take your child or children out early from school please go to the office to have your ID checked and wait for your child to come to the office. The office staff will contact the class teacher to arrange your child or children to come to the office. If no one is in the office, please stay there until someone returns.  Due to safety and privacy laws, it is imperative that parents and carers stay in the office and not go to the class when you need to take or pick up your child or children. 

 

2020 Australia Day parade 

The school has been invited to attend the Australia Day march Sunday 26 January 2020. Students will need to be at the marshalling area at around 9:30am to begin the march at 10am. If you want your child to march on the day please email the school that you definitely want your child/ren to march. Historically, we have had a small number of participate as majority of families being on holidays or have been discouraged by the extreme heat that has been present at most of these events. At this point of time there are very limited staff available as they are on their breaks. If there are limited students marching, the school will alert those families that we will not be participating.   

Spring Farm Public School is an official member of the Positive Behaviour for Learning. Please visit the PBL site to access more information https://pbl.schools.nsw.gov.au/

Keep an eye out on our Facebook Page for our upcoming PBL Focus'.